Portugal is one of the European countries with the highest number of hours worked, but it is among the least productive. According to Eurostat, the Portuguese work on average 39.5 hours per week, but the country has one of the worst productivity rates in Europe, second only to countries like Bulgaria, Romania or Croatia, among others. In contrast, countries where people work fewer hours, such as Ireland or the Netherlands, are the most productive. The case of Ireland, a country which until a few decades ago was in the same “league” as Portugal, is paradigmatic: the Irish work on average 36.5 hours per week (three hours less than in Portugal), but their productivity is almost three times higher than ours.

What’s the reason behind this gap between the Portuguese reality and that of countries like Ireland? Technology? Increasing automation in several activities? The levels of qualifications of the respective populations? Work ethics, culture or religion*?

I would say that the big difference lies in the manner how companies are organised. In Portugal, we also have companies that manage their main asset well, e.g. people. But most fail to do so still. And this is due, in my opinion, to the lack of preparation of leaders, the proliferation of bad leaders in organisations and certain cultural phenomena, such as nepotism and the “pull strings factor”, which is a reality in every country but more visible in Portugal in some companies and sectors of activity.

Camões concluded more than 400 years ago that a weak king makes strong people weak. This still holds true in many organizations in our country, both in public administration and in companies. And no Recovery and Resilience Plan or European funds will rescue us from the ill fate if we fail to solve these problems.

First, we need to instil and foster a healthy leadership culture in our companies. And this concept translates into a very simple idea: the leader is he who serves, not he who is served. A good leader who leads by example does not demand from his subordinates what he cannot accomplish and is governed by principles of honesty, integrity, transparency and justice. This proves essential should he want the members of his teams to identify with the projects, stick to the company and do their most. A good leader elevates people and makes them discover qualities and abilities they didn’t know they had. This is true in all human organisations, whether companies, football teams or military units. Furthermore, the increasing digitalisation we have been witnessing will not render human capital irrelevant. On the contrary, to take advantage of the huge potential of digitisation, companies need to have good employees.

Anyone who doesn’t know or ignores downplays these basic principles of good leadership – especially in an economy based on knowledge and where talent is highly mobile and often transnational – is already dead although he may not know that. Poor leadership destroys organisations and there are many examples around to prove this.

Second, we need better organisation in our companies. Something is not right if an employee is unable to perform the tasks he was asked to perform during his normal working hours (except under exceptional or unforeseen situations that occur in all organizations). It’s either the employee failure, his lack of capacity to perform his job in due time, wasting time with other things; or the company’s fault for having poorly organised the allocation of tasks, thus asking too much from its employees.

Well-organized companies are more efficient and productive. Companies where time is not wasted in unnecessary meetings and futile distractions are more efficient. Causing someone to waste time is one of the worst things we can do as we will be depriving that person of using this scarce resource in a more useful or pleasant manner. But few in Portugal remember that. Every half hour lost in an unnecessary meeting is money wasted and means less time to be with family and friends. Let us think about it.

On the other hand, employees with balanced lives have more physical and mental health and are like Port wine, they create value as they gain experience. Retaining these good employees is paramount for the success of organisations and salary is only one among several instruments to do so. Now that the return to “normal” life is on the horizon, we should reflect on the lessons we all have learned during this year of teleworking. The good and the bad lessons. And grow from there based on those lessons, instead of going back to the old ways. We have the opportunity to start over in this particular respect.

Oddly enough, few people in Portugal seem to worry about it, most political and business decision-makers in particular. However, this is a serious problem and has implications not only for the productivity of organizations and the people who work in them but also for the sustainability of our country, thus intensifying the demographic decline and increasing the costs of the National Health Service. This may be perhaps the right time for socially responsible Portuguese companies to start sharing best practices in this respect more assertively, leading by example and helping change the mindset, something so crucial for the future of the country.

(*) – Considering that Ireland is a predominantly Catholic country, like Portugal, Weber’s theory of Protestant ethics receives a well-deserved coup de grace.